Summer's Best Audiobooks

The voices on these four stellar audiobooks are the ones you’ll most want to hear on a long, leisurely road trip or during a lovely lie-down on the beach

by Cathleen Medwick

Photograph: Shutterstock.com

Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff, read by the author (Random House Audio). Rakoff’s reading of his final book (just out in hardcover) reminds us of this dearly missed writer’s rare combination of warmth and acerbic wit. His novel in verse roams through 20th-century America, telling lightly linked stories of people scarred by cruelty and salvaged by love.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, read by Jake Gyllenhaal (Audible Inc.). The West Eggglitterati brought to life by one of our most stylish interpreters of character. Who needs a movie?

Heartburn by Nora Ephron, read by Meryl Streep (Random House Audio). The ideal actress to channel this beloved writer’s savvy eloquence, Streep rolls Ephron’s words on her tongue as if they were the sweetest of delicacies. Which they are.

See Now Then: A Novelby Jamaica Kincaid, read by the author (Macmillan Audio). The rich, lilting rhythms of Kincaid’s voice as she reads her recently published novel, about the exorcism of an unhappy marriage, take us deep inside the writer’s tender heart and tropical imagination.